The Asian American Student Association named Bijan Azimi Mr. Asian OU and Tram Anh Lai Miss Asian OU at its annual pageant Tuesday night in Meacham Auditorium.

There were four male and four female contestants competing in the pageant, held under the theme “Evening of Elegance.”

Azimi, Andrew M. Nguyen, Donald Phan, and Ronny Tran competed for Mr. Asian OU, while Grace Hsu, Lai, Tammy Le and Priya Patel competed for Miss Asian OU.

“This is the biggest and only event in the spring [for the association], ” said Chris Nguyen, freshman representative for the association and University College freshman. “We’ve been working on it for two months.”

The crowd demonstrated enthusiasm with their loud cheers and handmade signs. Associate Director of Student Life Quy Nguyen and OU alumna Diana Ngo-Le acted as the Master and Mistress of Ceremonies for the approximately 300 guests.

The competition included three parts: traditional wear, talent, and question and answer. Each contestant also was required to sell 250 raffle tickets. The contestant who sold the most raffle tickets received extra points.

Before the event, five judges interviewed the contestants. The judges were either involved with OU or have pageant experience, such as Samantha Vu who held the titles of Miss Vietnam USA and Miss Asia America.

“The judges pick who they think will be best at representing Asian culture to community,” Nguyen said.

After winning, Mr. and Miss Asian OU each receive a $400 scholarship and are required to organize a community service, represent the Asian community and help organize next year’s pageant.

“I think it’s a pretty friendly competition this year,” said Lai, microbiology junior.

Lai said she initially joined for fun and then realized she could really benefit OU.

“I’ve never done any sort of pageant [before], actually,” Lai said.

Lai said she wants to create a collaborative event with all the university pageant winners, including Miss OU, Miss Black OU and Miss Hispanic OU.

Tran, economics junior, said he wanted to participate last year but could not.

“I always look forward to trying to experience new things and this is one thing I wanted to try,” Tran said.

He said the dancing was one of the most fun parts of the competition. He said the contestants practiced dancing 18 hours this month.

“It took a lot more work than I actually thought it would,” Tran said.

Patel, psychology and pre-ultrasound sophomore, said she wanted to participate to spread Asian culture and understanding around campus.

“Not that many non-Asians consider India to be in Asia, and that shocks me,” Patel said.